Black Guineafowl (Agelastes niger) - BirdLife species factsheet

Black Guineafowl Agelastes niger

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	high
Land-mass type		Average mass	700 g

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	2,180,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	poor	suspected	2009
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	2010-2027
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Generation length	5.52 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The total population size has not been quantified but is tentatively placed in the band of 100,000 - 500,000 individuals.

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be in decline owing to ongoing habitat destruction and unsustainable levels of hunting. This species is highly forest dependent and is suspected to be declining at roughly the same rate as forest loss; rates of forest cover loss have averaged c.5% over the last three generations [16.56 years; Bird et al. 2020] (Global Forest Watch 2022, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein) and this rate is suspected to continue into the future.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident
Angola	extant	native	yes
Cameroon	extant	native	yes
Central African Republic	extant	native	yes
Congo	extant	native	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes
Equatorial Guinea	extant	native	yes
Gabon	extant	native	yes
Nigeria	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Cameroon	Bakossi mountains
Cameroon	Boumba - Bek
Cameroon	Campo Ma'an complex
Cameroon	Dja Faunal Reserve
Cameroon	Korup National Park
Cameroon	Lobéké National Park
Cameroon	Mont Nlonako
Cameroon	Nki
Cameroon	Yabassi
Central African Republic	Dzanga-Ndoki National Park
Congo	Conkouati National Park
Congo	Dimonika Biosphere Reserve
Congo	Lake Télé Community Reserve
Congo	Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park complex
Congo	Odzala National Park complex
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	Okapi Faunal Reserve
Equatorial Guinea	Monte Alen National Park
Gabon	Gamba Protected Areas Complex
Gabon	Ipassa Strict Nature Reserve
Gabon	Lopé Faunal Reserve
Gabon	Minkébé Forest Reserve
Nigeria	Cross River National Park (Oban Division)

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest	marginal	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 830 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threats & impact

Threat (level 1)

Threat (level 2)

Impact and Stresses

Biological resource use

Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Slow, Significant Declines

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Species mortality